Wendy Davis and the people’s filibuster cries victory for social media too

It was a monumental event that hit Texas last night, and it appears big media barely played a role in it.

That saying ‘Don’t mess with Texas’ took on new meaning in the early hours of Wednesday as the capitol building was figuratively turned upside down and practically taken over by the people. The end result: a defeated controversial abortion bill, a new hero for women’s rights and perhaps another big turning point for the power of social media.

Texas Democratic Senator Wendy Davis led the battle cry. In her pink lace-up running shoes, she stood for nearly 11 hours without a bathroom, water or food break in an attempt to filibuster that bill known as #SB5. And it appears the people were “standing” with her. Even President Barack Obama was among those telling people to tune into Texas.

While her filibuster fell short of the 13 hours she was aiming for to kill the bill, the cause was then taken up by loud cheering and chanting from protestors who filled the chamber and halted the voting for what some said was up to 30 minutes. Republicans, who control the Senate, say the bill passed with seconds to spare, but hours of confusion then ensued as the two sides went back and forth over whether it had legally passed. Social media erupted with alleged proof that the vote on that bill came after the midnight deadline.

Senate documents went viral on Twitter — #timestampgate – suggesting that somehow the timestamp on those papers had been changed, and the GOP reportedly backed down.

Vaulting Davis to hero-like status, Twitterers had both praise for social media and criticism of traditional outlets. One noted that @TexasTribune was the only media outlet providing live blogs and reports. Not a single U.S. network provider provided live coverage, said one report, and some major media players were reportedly hours late in updating their stories.

I’ve got a Twitter hangover the size of Texas. Hats off to the Texans for showing us how to participate in democracy. #standwithwendy#sb5